Changeable exhibitor



Sept. 29, 1925.

l. MHNITZKY GHANGEABLE EXHIBITOR mladmm 4, 1925 2 Sheets-sheet- 1 NVNTOR BY l M7 ATTORNEY-5 Sept. 2.9, 1925.

MlTNrrzKY- GHANGEABLE Exuruqn Filed June 4, 1925 2 She ets-Sheet 2 L 4 INVENTOR I yBY yATTORNEYS Patented ,'epto 29, 1925i..

UNITED orties.

IRVING MITNITZK'SZ', OF SEA. NEW YDRK.

CHANGIEABLE EXHIBITOR.

Application filed June al., 1925. Serial No. 341,806.

certain new and useful llinproveinents in Changeable Exhibitors: and l do hereby declare the :following to be a full, clear, and enact description oi" the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to'which it appertains to inalie and use the saine.

'.lhis invention relates to changeable signs or exhibitors oit the type which may be used tor advertising, amusement or similar purposes.

One object oit the .invention is to provide aniniproved changeable sign or exhibitor.

Another object is to provide a changeable sign or exhibitor in which an actual object, continually exposed to vier7 and itorniiing an essential part ot a coinplete representation or subject, is supplemented periodically by a representation ot the reinaining portion o' the complete subject to be exhibited.

.il further object` is to provide an improved device for advertising clocks or watches. l The invention has ttor another object to improve the details oitl construction ot a changeable sign or exhibitor oft the type having a display surface torined by a plurality oi" reversible or rotatable ineinbers.

@ne specific embodiment oli' the invention is uselul tor advertising cloelss or watches and to this end rnay comprise a display sus tace in front of which. is a pair oit clock or watch hands operated byV clock mechanism concealed behind the surface. it one tiine during the operation oit the device nothing is presented to view except the hands, the display surface forming the background tor the hands being` entirely blank, except tor the representation oi a question niark which inay be exhibited on the display surtace at this time to assist in arousing curiosity. The device then operates to eliminate the question niark and to present on the display surtace the dial and remaining portions oit the representation ot a clock or watch, together with an identiiication ot the particular kind ot clock or watch being advertised.' The mechanism for changing the inatter on the display surface 1s preferably snnilar to that employed 1n changeable signs ot the type in which the display surface is tfornied by a plurality oit rotatable or reversible nieinliers.

llhe prclfcrrcd embodiment oi the invention is illustrated in the aceonipanyingl drawings in which Fig. l is a iront elevation oit the device it appears at one time duringI its operation,

F 2 is a similar view showing how it appears at another tiine during its operation,

llig. is vertical longitudinal cross-section through the coinplete device,

Fig. l is a horizontal section taken ou the line @t il oli Fig. 3,

ll`ig. 5 is a detail sectional view tation on the line 5?---5 ot lllig, B showing ar portion ot the dri ving' nieiibaiiisni Al'or the rotatable inelnbers, and

Fig'. t3 is a section taken on the line G--t of l? 3 illustrating a tnrthcr detail oit construction.

The preterred torno oi the. device will be specifically described to inalie the construe tion and operation otatleast one einbodinient ot the invention entirely clear. rlhis particular einl'iodiinent comprises a suitable casing l tor housing the operative parts ot the device. The casing l is provided with a' transparent panel 9 ot glass or the like, immediately behind which is inountcd a series oil' rollers or other rotatable or reversible ineinbers 3, 'The rollers 3 may be inounted in brackets 4l and "are prelerablj-yY connected with one another throughout the series by inter-meshing pinions 5 Certain oit the rollers have rigidly associated therewith sprocket wheels (i cooperating with a` sprocket chain rlhe chain 7 may be driven by a` driving sprocket 8, suitably liournaled within the casing l., andwhich in turn may be driven by a sprocket 9 protein ably located outside. oi1 the casing. 'lhe sprocket 9 inay be driven :troni any suitable source uit power. ln this way the drivingpower is distributed to the rollers and less energy is required than ittV only one roller were driven troin the source ot power and all ot-the other rollers driven :troni that one. ln the latter arrangement thelong train ot gearing would otter considerable resistance to the driving power of a single roller. In the particular arrangement shown in the drawings, tive of the rollers are positively driven and they distribute their driving power: to the remaining rollers.

Clock mechanism represented at 10 is suitably supported within the casing 1, as by means oi the standard 11, and the shaft or arbor 12 of this clock mechanism projects forwardly between the two adjacent rollers 3. For this purpose these two rollers at this point may be reduced in diameter as shown at 13 in Fig. 6 to provide a sutiicient clearance for the arbor. It will be understood in this connection that the rollers should be positioned quite close together in order to present a display surface which appears to be unbroken, or at least a display surface in which the subject displayed thereon is not seriously affected by the open spaces between the rollers.` It the rollers are suiliciently 'far apart to accommodate the arbor 12, of course the necessity of reducing the diameter ot the two rollers adjacent the arbor will be eliminated. The arbor 12 has associated therewith a pair ot' clock or watch hands 14 which move over the display surface formed by the rollers 13, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The rollers 3 are provided on one side with the component parts of the representation or a question mark shown at 15 in Fig. 1. At one time during the operation of the device these component parts ot the question mark will be simultaneously brought into view by reason of the rotation of the rollers. At this particular time in the operation of the device, it is preferable that nothing else be exposed to view except the question mark and the hands of the clock or watch. The opposite sides of the rollers are provided with the component parts of the representation of the remaining portion of a clock or watch as shown at 16 in Fig. 2 and the same aside of the rollers may also be provided with the component parts of reading matter which may identify the particular make ot clock or watch being advertised. Such an identification is shown at 17. It will now be. seen that when the rollers continue to rotate atter having presented to view the question mark shown in Fig. 1, they first eliminate from view the question mark and then bring into viewthe representation ot the watch dial and other parts oit the watch. As the rollers are further rotated these representations are obliterated leavin(T exposed to view only the hands, and then the representation of the question mark returns to view.

The effect produced by the device is a particularly pleasing and surprising` one, and when only the hands of the watch and the question mark are exposed to view considerable curiosity is aroused, and the onlooker anxiously awaits 'for the completion of the entire representation. It will be understood that the hands of the watch or clock, being actuated by the clock mechanism within the the casing, continually move over the display surface and will indicate the correct time whenever the hands are supplemented by the representation of the watch dial.

The rotatable members 3 may be made in any desired form to alternately present to view the two sets oit matter provided thereon, but preferably they are in the form of rollers as shown in the drawings. The representations may be provided on the rollers in any suitable way as by painting them thereon.

The hands of the clock or watch constitute the actual object which is permanently exposed to view by the device. This object forms an essential part oit the complete representation or subject that is to be displayed and when the mechanism of the changeable sign operates in the manner above described,

the actual object is supplemented by a representation of the remaining part of the complete subject.

While the preferred embodiment ot the invention is a device for advertising clocks. or watches and has been speciiically described as such, the device may be made in other torms to produce other effects. For instance, in place of' the watch or clock hands any other actual object, either movable or stationary, may be used and supplemented by the remaining portion of a complete representation by the mechanism of the changeable sign. Moreover, the hands 14; need not be watch or clock hands, but may constitute an indicator of any sort adapted to cooperate with any, kind of a scale brought to view by the mechanism of the changeable sign. `While the mechanism, comprising the rotatable or reversible members 3, is the preferred means for supplementing the hands of other actual object by the remainder of the complete representation, it will be understood that this may be accomplislied by other means.

I claim:

1. A changeable exhibitor comprising movable means adapted to cause au incomplete representation to be exposed to view, and a movable indicator constituting a completing` part of the representation and arranged to cooperate with the incomplete representation while the latter is so exposed.

2. A changeable exhibitor comprising` movable means adapted to cause au incomplete representation to be exposed to view, and a rotatable indicator constituting a completing part of the representation and permanently exposed to view for cooperating with the incomplete representation while the latter is so exposed.

3. A changeable exhibitorl comprising movable means adapted to cause an incomplete representation to be exposed to view, and a movable indicator constituting a completing part .of the representation and permanently exposed to view for cooperating with the incomplete representation while the latterI is so exposed, said indicator moving` in a plane substantially parallel ,to the exposed incomplete representation.

4f. A changeable exhibitor comprisingmovable means adapted to cause an incomplete representation to be exposed to view, and a rotatable indicator constituting' a completing' part of the representation and adapted to cooperate with the incomplete representation while the latter is so exposed, said indicator being,` mounted upon a shaft which extends behind the incomplete representation, and means associated with the shaft behind the incomplete representation for rotating` the same.

5. A changeable exhibitor comprising a plurality of rotatable members forming a display surface, an object positioned in front of said surface so as to be permanently exposed to view and constituting a portion only of a composite representation, said members being' provided on one side only with the component parts of the remainder of said representation, and means to simultanetnisly rotate said members whereby at one time the permanently exposed portion only of the representation is exposed to view and at another time the representation is completed by rotation of said members.

G. A changeable exhibitor comprising,` a plurality of rotatable members forming a display surface, a movable indicator permanently exposed to view in front of said surface, said members being` provided on one side only with the component parts of a reprcsentation with which the indicator is adapted to cooperate, and means to simultaneously rotate said members whereby at one time the indicator only is exposed to view and at another time both the indicator and the representation with which it cooperates are exposed to view.

7. A changeable exhibitor comprising a plurality of rotatable members forming a display surface, indicating' means permanently exposed to view in front of said surface, means for imparting movement to said indicating' means, said members being pro vided on one side only with the component parts of the representation of a scale with which said indicating means is adapted to cooperate, and means for rotating` said members whereby at one time usaid indicating` means only is exposed to view and at another time both the indicating' means and the scale are exposed to view.

8. An advertising' device comprising a plurality of rotatable members forming` a display surface, hands of a timepiece positioned in front of said surface, timepiece mechanism concealed behind said surface for actuating' said hands, said members having on one side only component parts of the representation of a timepiece dial without the hands, and means to rotate said members whereby at one time the hands only are exposed to view and at another time the complete representation of a timepiece exposed to view.

9. An advertising' device comprising a plurality of rotatable members forming a display surface, timepiece mechanism located behind said members and having an arbor projecting between two adjacent memf bers to a point in front of said surface, timepiece hands mounted on and actuated by said arbor, said members being' provided on one side only with the component parts of the representation of a timepiece dial, and means to rotate said members whereby at one time said hands only will be exposed to view and at another time the complete representation of a timepiece will be exposed to View.

l0. An advertising' device comprising; a plurality of rotatable members forming' a display surface, a movable object adapted to be moved over said surface, and constituting a portion only of a complete representation, an actuating shaft projecting' through said surface between two adjacent members and to which said object is opera tively connected, means located behind said surface for operating said shaft, said members being provided on one side only with the component parts of the remainder of said representation, and means to rotate said members whereby at one time the movable object will appear without the remainder of the representation and at another time the complete representation will appear.

11. An advertising device comprising a plurality of rotatable members forming a display surface, an object mounted to move over said surface, means for so moving 'the object over said surface, said object constituting a portion only of a complete representation, the rotatable members beingprovided on one side only with the component parts of the remainder of said representa tion, and means to rotate said members whereby at one time the movable object will appear without the remainder of the representation, and at another time the complete representation including the movable object will appear. l

l2. The combination with a changeable display surface having' a partial representa` tion alternately brought to view and obliterated thereon., of an actual object located in front of said surface and exposed to view, said object constituting a supplementto the partial representation brought to view on the display surface.

In testimony whereof l affix my signature.

IRVING MITNITZKY. 

